Cosmopolitan AustraliaÂ had a family reunion of sorts in its August issue, bringing together two sisters kept separate in fashion mags due to their different sizes. Both Courtney and Laura Wells are models, but Laura is plus-size and usually relegated to special spreads. In this editorial, both girls show off the season’s trends on their slim and curvy bodies.

In case you’re curious, Laura is a size 14 (AUS) and Courtney is a size 10 (AUS). Watch the video where Courtney explains that she and her sister have lived in the same house and eaten the same food all their life (and ended up at different sizes and with different labels) – then tell us what you think!

I agree, both look stunning. And the fact that they have followed the same diet their whole lives and ended up different sizes just goes to show that sometimes our size and weight is out of our control, and that we should just try to be healthy and beautiful.

how you figure this? because one of the sisters is bigger than the other although they (allegedly; it doesn’t take much difference to get from size 10 to 14) ate the same? wouldn’t this just be that one of the sisters either ate too much or little?

completely agree with you linda. and who’s to say that one of them wasn’t more active than the other? my sister and i grew up eating the same foods my sister definitely ate smaller portions than i did but i played sports throughout my school years, thus allowing us to share clothes.

totally agree they are both beautiful woman but she said they ate the same growing up not now so obivously she eats more now. im sorry but what u put in your body depends on how big your going to be so shes obviously eating more than he sister.

you also have to take build into consideration. I have a sister who works as a fitness instructor and eats healthier than anyone I know. Me on the other hand, I exercise moderately and eat pretty much whatever I want. My sister is still curvier than me. That’s just how she’s built. I’m also four inches taller than her and my bones are a lot smaller than hers. We probably have around the same amount of fat on our bodies (proportionately) but she appears much curvier and wears a size bigger than me.

It’s called “metabolism.” Just because they are sisters does not mean they have similar metabolisms. So it is very possible that the smaller sister just has a faster metabolism. That is why some people have to practically starve themselves to be skinny, and others are just naturally so.

Perhaps one sister’s body stores fat more easily. Perhaps one sister eats more without realizing it because she eats too quickly (it takes a few minutes for the body to register the feeling of satiation). Perhaps one sister fidgets more over the course of the day and therefore burns more calories. You can’t just assume metabolism is the answer. And beyond that, I wish people would stop talking about metabolism like it’s set in stone by genetics. It’s not! Your metabolism varies depending on what you eat, when you eat, how often you eat, how much muscle mass you have,… Read more »

That’s an excuse, and a bad one. Framing it as “size and weight” is preposterous as well; one cannot decide to be 6 feet or 5 feet tall, but one can certainly change how much meat is on those tall or short bones.

However, your conclusion – that we should focus on our health – is an appropriate one. Just thinking about size isn’t particularly helpful, but if we focus on eating correct portions of clean foods and exercising regularly, everything else will fall into place. (Barring a medical condition, of course.)

I’m having a hard time believing they ate the same their whole life. First of all, who does that? I mean, even my husband and I eat basically the same but he eats larger portions and can snack more. They both look good, though neither one of them are stunning IMO.

i was just about to say the same thing. my sister brother and i grew up together, but we don’t eat exactly the same. nobody eats exactly the same. i get frustrated with the idea that weight is out of our control. there are a few, a very few, for whom that is true, and its a terrible situation to be in, for the rest of us weight is mostly about lifestyle, and that is a GOOD thing. it means we can chose what we look like. It means WE are in control. I personally find that empowering.

i completely agree, size is not merely due to what you eat and how much you exercise, body frame also comes into play. i have an older sister who is leaner than i am yet i am an exercise freak and eat very healthily and in small portions whereas she does not really watch what she eats.

I love the idea to include them both alongside each other, but I also agree with previous posters that you can’t always eat exactly the same thing when living under one roof. Yes, my family and I would all have the same meal for dinner, but the rest of what we ate during the day was more random and some had more snacks whereas others had less and some had bigger portions and others smaller portions… Though, if I saw their whole family and one parent’s side looked like the slim sister and the other parent’s side looked more like… Read more »

People who have a problem with the statement that they lived under the same roof and ate the same need to chill out and stop being so nit-picky. The point of their statement isn’t that they ate the exact same food in the exact same portions. The point is that the generally were on the same diets and grew up around the same food-ethos. Regardless if their standard dinner was deep-fried southern soul food or locally grown organic vegetables with a side of grass-fed beef, they grew up with the same dinners. I notice how with women people always assume… Read more »

I couldn’t agree with you more! and isn’t funny how women are always compared to their sisters in terms of weight, as if we do not share 50% of our genes with our brothers as well?? If weight was purely the outcome of energy consumed versus energy burnt then you would expect that any pair of sibling would have a similar build, given that they eat a fairly similar diet.

Being physically fit is not a condition that only occurs when you can no longer possibly lose an ounce of fat. Plenty of fit people have some body fat; this is because regardless of fitness or hours spent exercising, the person is still taking in more calories than the body needs to continue functioning. Those extra calories are stored as fat. Your large brother could easily burn off that layer of fat by restricting his calorie intake a bit. I know it’s not as nice of a conclusion as “your weight is completely out of control so just do whatever… Read more »

they both look good, neither of them looks plus-size and neither of them looks skinny, they both look attractive and healthy just different sizes. If we are comparing, I would say I prefer the slimmer sisters body and the “bigger” sisters face, though the slimmer one does have nice cheekbones, but I like the combination of dark hair and light eyes that the “bigger” sister has.

Also kudos to the stylish who dressed them for the shoot, normally when plus size models are dressed they tend to put them in frumpy clothes. i actually want the clothes on the plus size sister, more so than the skinny one. On a side note: people need to chill with dissecting every single syllable of people’s statement. Although I guess that one of the purpose of this site? *shrugs* Although I agree that we have more control on how we look, despite genetics, although in this case, since she is not really fat, i believe that they could eat… Read more »

I agree. I am more inclined to believe them too because the bigger sister is not “fat.” She seems to have a different bone structure and body type than her thinner sister, which WOULD be out of one’s control unless you take extreme measures.

I agree with everyone saying that it’s possible for the two of them to have completely different food intakes even if they have similar meals and live together. One might also do more exercise etc.etc. However, I have a friend who is very thin (a UK size 6-8) and her sister is three years younger then her and is a size 14-16. They eat the same meals at least twice a day, and my friend eats a LOT of junk food, but remains thin- her sister, and the rest of her family are overweight and she is not. So in… Read more »

I think some people have read waayyyyyyyyy too much into her statement. I think the basic point here is that they grew up on similar diets are different sizes. It’s not impossible and moreover, the ‘plus size’ girl isn’t fat.

I have a twin brother. I’m a girl and I tend to gain weight, but he is really skinny and hates it. But his metabolism is faster than mine and i always have to make exercice and eating healthy things. I think that there are things out of our control, like genetics. BUT we have to work things out and not make any excuses. If the other brohter or sister is luckier than us, good for her/him. but if can have a great figure if we want to. The thing is that, most of the time, we complain and we… Read more »

Who of them is the plus size? If that’s a plus size than I am too. I really had to have two looks to figure out which one was the thinner one at some pics. It’s just ridiculous to call the “bigger” one plus size. What the hell is wrong with the fashion world?! And the comments “they dressed the plus one flattering blaaa” hilarious. There is nothing to hide with this figure. If I guess I would say she has BMI of 22 max. healthy range 19-24…

STOP calling normal girls plus size! plus size ist something out of order and not that.

I don’t think you should take the term “plus-size” so personally. No one is calling her fat or too big, it’s just a modeling label, just like “petite” is used to describe shorter models. Of course she is not plus-size outside of fashion, but in fashion, her size is bigger than their norm.

Also, there’s nothing inherently negative about the phrase plus-size…it’s not meant to be an insult until you start treating it as one. And if it is an insult, then “size 0” is an insult as well but we treat that as neutral.

I think than size 0 has to be called minus size… I’m not taking any term here personally and I’m feeling very comfortable in my own skin. But it annoys me everytime I read it more and more to see normal weight girls called plus size. They are not even average size I would say. It doesn’t influence my picture of my body to see a slim girl called plus size, my self-confidence is quite high =) But I know a lot of younger girls or even my age being influenced by this pictures. Nearly everyone is always complaining and… Read more »

Before exercise, genetics plays a huge role in body structure. Some people I know would eat like crazy in an attempt to gain more flesh, & others have slaved in the gym & done crazy diets but still can’t lose the excess weight…That’s basically why there’s the pear, apple, hourglass, straight, athletic, etc body types. It’s like skin type, all the moisturizer in the world will never turn dry skin type to normal or oily.

Wow, I don’t know that I would ever be comfortable being as large as Laura, the bigger one, but I think she’s the most stunning in this spread (her sister’s very pretty too). I guess that different individuals look their best at different weights. That said, I don’t see that growing up in the same house with same foods has any bearing at all on eating habits. I have four half brothers, and my step dad eats a TON but works out a lot, my mom is a very restrictive eater. Despite all of my brothers having grown up in… Read more »

Yeah, but I think the reason why she even bothered commenting on their family’s food habits was to say that she DOES eat about the same as her sister. I think that was the point she was trying to get across, before people started dissecting her quote. Yes, sometimes families don’t eat the same thing or same poritions even though they live in the same household, but that’s clearly not what she was trying to imply.

The photoshot is successful IMO and I like the “bigger” sister better. Considering calling her “plus size”, I agree. We’re talking about the modelling world where 00 is considred a size!So of course size 10 is plus size. In real world she is not anywhere near plus size but utterly normal!And fabulous may I add. Let’s not confuse fashion and reality…

i like that both girls of different sizes are dressed nicely, cos we see a lot of plus-sized models whether naked or in smth ugly, but here they were able to dress the girls equally good. and their faces are just plain.

I personally know both of these girls, and trust me they both ate the exact same amount of food growing up, its just genetics, my sister and i eat the same thing and yet im curvy and shes supper skinny, we cant help it its just the way we are and both these girls are gorgeous just the way they are!